At the beginning of 2005, it was said that by the middle, or at the latest by the end of that same year, the United Nations would declare the Canary Islands a Special Sensitive Maritime Zone. The Spanish press published a map that covered all the internal waters of the archipelago, and on it, generalized interpretations of Spanish sovereignty were given to the entire archipelagic sea, implying that all of these internal waters were included in said declaration. There was international protest which forced the Spanish State not to impede free navigation through international waters between islands, nor to require the declaration of cargo or notice of passage.
The Canary Islands do not have sufficient "status" recognized by the Spanish State to obtain a maritime zone of an archipelagic nature, they know it and have always known it.
The real purpose of requesting such a special maritime declaration from the United Nations is none other than to confuse us with the declaration on the Delimitation of the Maritime Spaces of the Canary Islands. However, the International Maritime Organization will demand the presentation of the corresponding nautical chart, where the State requesting a Special Maritime Zone is obliged to specify on a nautical chart the maritime zones of special sensitivity that are requested.
The end of 2005 arrived and there was no final declaration. They say again that it will be in June 2006 when the special maritime zone is definitively confirmed. Now we are finishing June and neither. They say for December of this year. What is happening with the declaration of the ZMES in the Canary Sea? Canary politicians have included these ambiguities in the reform of the Statutes of Autonomy. That's how it goes for those who sell the dignity of the Canary Islands for economic subsidies.
The interpretation made by the Platform for the Canary Sea, except for small differences, is as follows:
Spain has accepted the text corrected by the IMO, but maintaining in the nautical chart the specially sensitive maritime zone to the whole of the archipelago's internal waters.
If countries and oil tankers protested before the IMO before, now it is precisely Morocco that does not accept the claims of closing the archipelagic waters. As we have said before, the Canary Islands lack a political-administrative relationship required by International Maritime Law. Morocco clings to this, in order to negotiate it with Spain in exchange for the latter's support before the United Nations for the autonomy it seeks for the Sahara.
The Autonomy project for the Sahara is being supported by the U.S. of America.
If the U.S. defends Morocco in the Sahrawi conflict, they will also defend them when the claim of the Median border between the Canary Islands and the African continent arises, where sovereignty over the maritime spaces between Morocco and Spain will be defined, especially in the internal waters and in the exclusive economic zone.
The U.S. has great historical experience on islands of other States. And the Canary oil is internationally awakening the territorial reality of the Canary Islands. Faced with this, Spain only has two options to prevent annexationist maneuvers: Granting the independence of the Canary Islands under the tutelage of the U.S. or maintaining the Canary Islands as one more part of the territory of the Spanish State, which means a new "political-administrative status", ceding to the Canary Islands a Full Internal Autonomy under the auspices of Resolution 745 of the United Nations.
There is a third option: the historical aspiration of King Hassan II: to achieve for Morocco the great State of the Maghreb, which goes from the Strait of Gibraltar to San Louis (Mauritania-Senegal border), including the adjacent islands......... Perhaps the Canary Islands, too?
That option remains in the political coherence of the State with this part of the Spanish territory.
Platform for the Canary Sea: Antonio Rodríguez de León
